Help:Editing
 | This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of our norms and practices. |
File:Wikipedia video tutorial-1-Editing-en.ogv
| Note: You can use the sandbox to experiment with page editing. |  |
The AARoads Wiki is a wiki, meaning anyone with an account can edit nearly any[1] page and improve articles immediately. Anyone who has edited is known as a editor. Small edits add up, and every editor can be proud to have made Wikipedia better for all.
Editing articles
Content style and policies
An encyclopedic style with a formal tone is important: straightforward, just-the-facts, instead of essay-like, argumentative, or opinionated. The goal of an AARoads Wiki article is to create a comprehensive and neutrally written summary of existing mainstream knowledge about a topic. Ideally, all information should be cited and verifiable by reliable sources.
Edit screen(s)
Editing most the AARoads Wiki pages is fairly simple through wikitext (wiki markup).
Wikitext editing using the Source Editor is chosen by clicking the Edit source tab at the top of an AARoads Wiki page (or on a section-edit link). This opens an editable copy of the page, showing all the wikitext used there, and the Source Editor toolbar offers simple menu options to add or change the formatting. Wikitext is used extensively throughout the AARoads Wiki for such things as hyperlinks, tables and columns, footnotes, inline citation, special characters and so on. The Source Editor lets users toggle on 'wikitext highlighting' which uses different colours to help differentiate article text from wikitext.
The AARoads Wiki community has developed style guidelines to make articles and facts appear in a standardized form, and the AARoads Wiki easier to use as a whole. A basic list of wikitext can be found on the cheatsheet. An "edit toolbar" is provided just above the edit box (pictured below), which allows logged-in users (by selecting the option in personal preferences) to automatically place and format various aspects of wiki code. See Help:Wikitext for more information, remember that you can't break the AARoads Wiki, and, although there are many protocols, perfection is not required], as the AARoads Wiki is a work in progress.
When you have finished editing, you should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit box (pictured below). You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in the legend. To see how the page looks with your edits, press the "Show preview" button. To see the differences between the page with your edits and the previous version of the page, press the "Show changes" button. If you're satisfied with what you see, be bold and press the "Publish changes" button. Your changes will immediately be visible to all the AARoads Wiki users.
Summary:
This is a minor edit 
Watch this page
If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource.
Cancel
Note: Do not sign the edit summary line with your ~~~~ signature, as it does not work there.
Minor edits
A check to the "minor edit" box signifies that only superficial differences exist between the version with your edit and the previous version: typo/grammar corrections, fixing a formatting problem, etc. A minor edit is a version that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute. Marking a change as minor does not mean that the edit is unimportant.
The "minor edit" option is one of several options available only to registered users. Editors are never required to use this button. When in doubt, consider your work to be a normal edit.
Major edits
All editors are encouraged to be bold when improving articles, but there are several things that a user can do to ensure that potentially disruptive edits are performed smoothly. Before engaging in a major edit, a user should consider discussing proposed changes on the article discussion/talk page. During the edit, if doing so over an extended period, the {{in use}} tag can reduce the likelihood of an edit conflict. Once the edit has been completed, the inclusion of an edit summary will assist in documenting the changes. These steps will help all to ensure that major edits are well received by the AARoads Wiki community.
A major edit should be reviewed to confirm that it is consensual to all concerned editors. Therefore, any change that affects the meaning of an article is major (not minor), even if the edit is a single word.
There are no necessary terms to which you have to agree when doing major edits, but the preceding recommendations have become best practice. If you do it your own way, the likelihood of your edits being re-edited may be higher.
When making particularly large or complex changes, you may want to copy the article to your sandbox, so you can make changes without being interrupted by other editors. It is also a good idea to publish changes frequently, so that a browser crash or electrical failure will not result in you losing all of your work.
Adding references
File:Citing sources tutorial, part 1.ogv File:RefTools rework.ogv Generally, sources are added directly after the facts they support at the end of the sentence and after any punctuation. the AARoads Wiki permits editors to use any citation system that allows the reader to understand where the information came from and strongly encourages the use of inline citations to do so. Common methods of placing inline citations include footnotes, shortened footnotes and parenthetical references.
Inline citations are most commonly placed by inserting a reference between <ref> ... </ref> tags, directly in the text of an article. The reference is a footnote, appearing as an inline link (e.g. [1][2]) to a particular item in a collated, numbered list of footnotes, found wherever a {{reflist}} template or <references /> tag is present, usually in a section titled "References" or "Notes". If you are creating a new page or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, don't forget to add a references section with this display markup.
There are a number of tools available to help with citation placement and formatting, some of which are internal tools and scripts, while others are available from external sites. For an example of the former, RefToolbar is a JavaScript toolbar displayed above the edit box that provides the ability to automatically fill out various citation templates and insert them in the text already formatted inside <ref> ... </ref> tags. For an example of the latter, the Citer converts a digital object identifier (DOI) or Google Books address (URL) into a filled-out {{cite journal}} or {{cite book}} template ready to be pasted into an article. See Help:Citation tools for many others.
Adding images, sounds, and videos
A file that is already hosted on the AARoads Wiki or the Wikimedia Commons can be inserted with the basic code [[File:FILENAME|thumb|DESCRIPTION]]. (Image: can be substituted for File: with no change in effect; the choice between the two is purely a matter of editorial preference.) Using thumb generates a thumbnail of an image (the most common placement option), which is typically sized differently from the original image. The Wikimedia Commons' File Upload Wizard will guide you through the process of submitting media. There are various file formats available.
Article creation
File:How to create a Wikipedia article - Right to science and culture.ogv Before starting a new article, please understand the AARoads Wiki's notability requirements. In short, the topic of an article must have already been the subject of publication in reliable sources, such as books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals and websites that meet the same requirements as reputable print-based sources. Information on the AARoads Wiki must be verifiable; if no reliable third-party sources can be found on a topic, then it should not have a separate article.
Talk pages
File:Editing basics - Talk pages.webm Every article on the AARoads Wiki has a talk page, reached by clicking the "Talk" tab just above the title (for example, Talk:Alexander the Great). There, editors can discuss improvements to the content of an article. If you ever make a change that gets reverted by another editor, discuss the change on the talk page! The BOLD, revert, discuss cycle is a popular method of reaching consensus. It is very important that you conduct yourself with civility and assume good faith on the part of others. Edit warring (repeatedly overriding or reimplementing contributions) is highly discouraged.
Most other types of pages on the AARoads Wiki also have associated talk pages, including the User page each editor is assigned once they sign up. When other editors need to contact you, they will usually do this by leaving a message on your talk page. When someone has left you a message that way, you will see a notice the next time you log in or view a page on the AARoads Wiki.
- Sign your contributions to a Talk page by using four tildes (~~~~), which produces your username and a time/date stamp.
Protected pages and source code
Some pages are protected from editing. These pages have a "View source" tab instead of an "Edit" tab. You can still edit these pages indirectly by submitting an edit request—an editor with the permission to edit the protected page will respond to it.
To submit an edit request, click on the protected page's "View source" tab and then the "Submit an edit request" button at the bottom right.
Policies and conventions
Policies, guidelines, and formatting norms are developed by the community to describe the best practices, to clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and otherwise further our goals. Make sure that you submit information that is relevant to the AARoads Wiki's specific purpose, or your content might be deleted. You can always use the talk pages to ask questions or check to see if your idea will be accepted. Please make note of which license will cover your contributions.
See also
- Help:WikiProject: if you are writing an article about something that belongs to a group of topics, check here first!
- Wikimedia Bookshelf: learning materials, videos, and handouts
- Help:Glossary: a glossary for the AARoads Wiki editors
Notes
- ^ Some pages are protected from editing and marked by a lock icon at the top right. If you are not allowed to edit the page, it will have a "View source" instead of an "Edit" tab. You can still edit these pages indirectly by submitting an edit request: click "View source", then "Submit an edit request" at the bottom right, and an editor that is authorized to edit the page will respond to your request.